Hope is running higher in the Netherlands, according to a new survey. The Volkskrant reports on Friday that according to the country’s second annual reading on a ‘hope barometer’ – published in January – people are increasingly positive.

Last month the government advisory body the SCP said that for the first time there were more positive than negative people in the country. This year’s hope barometer agrees with the reading, giving an average score of 6.1 out of 10 for seven different kinds of positivity, including spiritual, emotional and moral hope. The project, created by the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation and the Institute for Leadership and Social Ethics, asked 1,600 Dutch people about their hopes for the future and analysed the results.

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About the Hopebarometer

The Hopebarometer is a scientific project aimed at finding ways to measure hope. It is a project by the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation and the Institute for Leadership and Social Ethics.